The present invention is directed to an improved headgear for martial arts contestants which is reversible so as to be wearable on both sides. The headgear comprises a blank of protective foam erected to form a head covering wherein the blank has a first color on one side and a second color on the other side whereby a competitor is provided with a comfortable and proper head protection regardless of the attitude of the headgear and may select one of the two colors simply by turning the headgear inside out. The construction of the headgear facilitates reversibility by means of the design of the blank and an elastic strap member at the rear of the headgear.
Since Taekwondo has become an advanced category in the Olympic Games, the number of Taekwondo practitioners has increased dramatically. To prevent injury, competitors are required to wear protective headgear. The headgear is provided in a single color. However, in order to make it easier to distinguish the competitors during a bout, competition directors have begun requiring competitors to wear different colored headgear. This requires that competitors carry at least two pieces of headgear to competitions, sometimes more, or to borrow headgear from other competitors. Often competitors do not know what color of headgear to wear until immediately prior to the competition. Accordingly, what is needed is a bicolor headgear that is reversible for use in either an obverse or reverse configuration, the obverse side being of one color and the reverse being of another color, and which is simple and economical to manufacture while meeting the protection requirements of the World Taekwondo Federation.
Reversible head wear which has different colors or patterns on each side are known as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 1,111,659, LePierre, U.S. Pat. No. 1,538,847, Wheeler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,187,345, Holford and U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,277, Sherman. However, these hats do not provide the shock absorbent protection needed by competitors in martial arts and other sports.
Protective headgear for martial arts and other sports is commonly made from foam material covered by a pliable surface coating so as to be lightweight yet shock absorbent. The headgear are shaped to encompass the wearer""s head and provide protection to all surfaces while permitting the wearer to see, breath and hear. Due to their vulnerability, extra protection is often provided over the ears. Examples of such prior art headgear are U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,122, Toms, U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,038, Bruckner, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,305, Cho. Each of these types of headgear provide protection to the wearer""s head but are useable in only one configuration.
The nature of the design and construction of the prior art headgear is such that they are formed so as to conform to the shape of the human head when in their correct, or right side out, configuration. When reversed, the headgear no longer conform to the cranial contours. Thus, they do not fit properly and are not useable in their intended manner. Although the materials from which they are made are resilient and flexible such that the prior art headgear are physically capable of being turned inside out, since no allowance is made to accommodate the stretching that occurs during reversal, those stresses tend to cause the materials to rupture and tear further rendering the prior art headgear unsuitable for reversible use.
The present inventor has sought to provide an adequate bicolor reversible headgear in his prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,840 and, to the extent that the headgear disclosed therein is of two colors and is reversible, he has succeeded. However, the structure of that prior headgear presents manufacturing difficulties with respect to its assembly. Specifically, the present inventor""s prior headgear comprises a plurality of separate panels that are connected to form the shape of the headgear by individual strips of elastic material preferably let into slits cut in the edges of each panel. Difficulty arises in the creation of uniform slits, insertion and securing of the elastic material and maintaining the proper arrangement of the panels while the elastic is secured in place.
By the present invention, the inventor herein has overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, including his own patent, by providing a one piece blank which can be molded from foam precursors or cut from a sheet of foam and which has a shape which facilitates both the erection of the blank into a protective headgear as well as the reversal of the headgear once erected so as to permit easy change from one color to the other without undue stress on the fabric of the headgear itself. Furthermore, the headgear erected from the blank, in addition to being reversible, is comfortable and provides the desired degree of protection to the user.
The present invention provides a one piece blank of resilient foam material cut so as to provide a series of planarly connected panels which, when assembled, provides a reversible protective headgear, wherein the blank comprises:
a first region comprising left and right side panels connected by an intervening forehead panel,
a second region comprising a crown panel connected to said forehead panel by a bridge panel along an upper edge thereof and substantially midway between said left and right side panels, said crown panel comprising left and right lobes each having an edge bondable to a cooperating portion of an upper edge of said left and right side panels, said second region tapering in a direction opposite from said bridge panel to form a tail piece extending from said crown panel substantially midway between said left and right lobes.
The invention further provides a reversible, two color protective headgear erected from a one piece blank of resilient foam wherein said blank comprises: a first region comprising left and right side panels connected by an intervening forehead panel,
a second region comprising a crown panel connected to said forehead panel by a bridge panel along an upper edge thereof and substantially midway between said left and right side panels, said crown panel comprising left and right lobes each having an edge bondable to a cooperating portion of an upper edge of said left and right side panels, said second region tapering in a direction opposite from said bridge panel to form a tail piece extending from said crown panel substantially midway between said left and right lobes, said panels and tailpiece being in planar arrangement;
wherein said bondable edge of each of said left and right lobes of said crown panel describe an arc which corresponds to said cooperating portion of said upper edge of said left and right side panels whereby bonding of said left lobe edge to said left side panel edge and said right lobe edge to said right side panel edge erects said blank into said headgear.
The invention still further provides a blank of resilient foam material and two color reversible headgear erected therefrom comprising a left side panel, a right side panel, a forehead panel and a crown panel, wherein the left and right side panels are joined by a forehead panel and each substantially cover the side of the head from the temples rearward to the back of the head and from just below the crown of the head downward over the ears and cheeks and having openings over the ears. The crown panel is attached to the forehead panel by a bridge panel so as to be spaced therefrom and comprises left and right lobes which are bonded to the upper edges of the left and right side panels when the blank is erected to form the headgear. Rearward of the lobes, the crown panel tapers to form a tail piece which extends downward over the back of the head between and separate from the rear edges of the left and right side panels. An elastic strap member connects the rear edges of the left and right side panels behind the wearer""s head and also serves to releasably hold the free end of the tail piece. The blank comprises a resilient foam material having a first color on one side and a second color on the other side whereby the headgear is reversible by turning inside out to expose the first color in a first configuration and the second color in a second configuration.
It is therefor an object of the present invention to provide a one piece blank of resilient foam material which is capable of being erected to form a protective and reversible headgear for martial arts and other sports.
It is a further object to provide a reversible protective headgear erectable from the blank which has a first color on one side and a second color on the other side.
It is a still further object to provide a reversible protective headgear from the blank having means to facilitate reversal and which conforms to the head in both the obverse and reverse configuration.
Further objects and advantages will become evident from the accompanying drawings and descriptions.